


The Greatest Gift of All

by rugratss



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Fluff, M/M, Oneshot, POV Neil Josten, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, neil learning how to be a good friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28063935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rugratss/pseuds/rugratss
Summary: “Speaking of Christmas, what are you getting the others for it?” The other man spoke once more.Neil blinked for a second. He hadn’t even thought about presents. Was he supposed to give presents? He’d never given a proper present to anyone before, so he didn’t exactly know what that entailed. He gave Nicky a confused look.ORNeil Josten wants to give Christmas presents to the foxes, but finds out he is a terrible gift giver.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 5
Kudos: 59





	The Greatest Gift of All

**Author's Note:**

> This may be a bit self-indulgent and ooc, but I'm obsessed with All For the Game and had to write a sappy Christmas post where Neil actually enjoys Christmas for once. Give the baby some love, please.

Christmas time. It was never a happy memory for Neil. Apart from last Christmas at Evermore and constantly being on the run with his mother, his other experiences with the holiday were mostly spent with his father. This was the first Christmas he would be spending with his real family, and he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to be doing.

Mostly everyone went home for Thanksgiving, where Neil, Kevin, Nicky, Aaron, and Andrew all spent the holiday at Abby’s, with Wymack and Betsy accompanied. After what had happened last Christmas, the foxes decided they wanted to stay at Palmetto for the Christmas break though. Everyone seemed happy and content about the idea.

Neil had no idea what it meant to celebrate Christmas with other people. He had seen the typical Christmas stories and films, but he hardly figured a Christmas with the foxes would go anything like those fairytales would. Allison and Nicky had already taken to decorating their dorms and hallway at the Fox Tower with a plethora of cheesy decorations. Andrew, however, refused to have anything in their dorm, so they settled for having a small wreath hanging on their door.

They decorated everyone else’s rooms, including the new freshman’s, with lights, tinsel, nutcrackers, little snowmen, and other knit-knacks that they could conjure up. Their “ _crowned jewel_ ”, as they called it, was the brightly decorated Christmas tree in the living room of the girl’s shared dorm. It had lights strung all to the top, alternating between green and red, ornaments filling in every empty space they could find, and a bright white star sitting on the top of the small tree. There were presents sitting neatly under the tree already, but he couldn’t quite figure out if they were real or not. Nevertheless, the scene was quite beautiful and almost got Neil excited for the prospect of Christmas with his friends.

Neil sat on the couch in their living room, watching old exy games from previous seasons that had been casted onto the TV. Nicky suddenly walked in, startling Neil slightly.

“Hey, Neil. Where’s Andrew?” Nicky spoke, making his way over to the couch.

Neil gave him a short shrug. It wasn’t his job to watch after Andrew all the time, despite everyone thinking that Neil and him were connected at the hip. They liked to stay close for comfort and safety sake, but they didn’t like being with each other all the time. They both needed space and days for themselves.

Nicky flopped down on the other end of the couch, opposite Neil, and groaned as he saw what was on the screen. “Can’t you watch _anything_ else? I mean it’s Christmas. Turn on a holiday movie.” He complained. Neil decided to ignore him, Nicky letting out a huff as he realized this conversation was getting nowhere with the auburn head.

“Speaking of Christmas, what are you getting the others for it?” The other man spoke once more.

Neil blinked for a second. He hadn’t even thought about presents. Was he supposed to give presents? He’d never given a proper present to anyone before, so he didn’t exactly know what that entailed. He gave Nicky a confused look.

Nicky’s brows immediately rose, realizing Neil’s confusion. A smile broke out on his face. It made Neil feel a bit uneasy, not knowing what the other man had planned.

“ _Oh_! That’s right, you’ve never given a Christmas present before, huh?” Neil gave a small shake of his head, still confused at this prospect. “That’s perfect! I can help you out. I happen to be an amazing gift giver.” He gave Neil a wink.

“Hm, I think it would make more sense for you to give them something meaningful. Let’s brainstorm some ideas.” He said, going to grab a pen and paper from Neil’s desk. Neil paused the exy game that was on, deciding he can come back to it at a later time. Nicky grabbed a seat back in his original spot and pulled the coffee table closer to them. He wrote on the top of the sheet of paper, _Neil’s Christmas Ideas_ in fancy letters.

“Let’s start with one person first. I would suggest Andrew, but he hates gifts so there’s no point there.” He starts, making an almost annoyed face. “How about Matt? You two are close. What do you think he would want?”

Neil wondered for a moment. Matt has definitely become one of his best friends, he probably knew most about the taller male more than anyone other than Andrew.

“Um…soap?” He looked quizzically at Nicky. Nicky gave a horrified face.

“Neil, no. That’s like, one of the first roles of gift giving. No soap, no socks, and definitely no food.” Neil stared at him like he was crazy. Nicky gave out small sigh before continuing, “I’m sure there’s something you know Matt would like. Something meaningful.”

Neil thought a bit longer. He thought about past conversations they had, or even off-hand comments that Matt had made. Despite his best efforts he couldn’t think of anything. He threw his head back on the couch, letting out a groan of frustration.

“Nicky, I have no idea. I’m not good at this stuff. Can’t I just, like, hug them and that be it?” He said, staring up at the ceiling.

“I’m not going to force you, but I think it would make everyone really happy if you at least tried. Even if it ends up being a total disaster, I think everyone would appreciate the thought.” Neil looked over at Nicky, who was giving him a soft smile. Neil sighed.

“Fine, I’ll think about it. But if your gift sucks, don’t complain to me. This was your idea.” Nicky let a little chuckle. He placed the pen down and grabbed the remote, turning the TV onto some cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie. Neil sighed again, but watched the horrible movie nonetheless. He might not ever admit it, knowing it would just go to Nicky’s head, but he genuinely enjoyed movie time with the other man.

* * *

Neil had been thinking all week about what he could get the others for Christmas. He even used Kevin’s laptop to scour the Internet for possible ideas. It turned out to be pointless. So far, he only came up with possibly the dumbest ideas he could think of. If Andrew ever saw his last he would for sure never let him live it down.

His list so far consisted of: Gift cards, books that the others might enjoy reading, and cleaning supplies for the dormitories or their exy gear.

He was currently laying with Andrew on the sofa, watching a nature documentary about aquatic life. Neil was hardly interested, but Andrew seemed to like it, so he said nothing on the matter. He couldn’t stop thinking about the presents, it completely bugging him now that he had more time to think on it. Usually exy practice helped distract him a bit.

“If you’re going to insufferably bothersome, can you at least be quiet about it?” Andrew spoke beside him. Despite his words, Andrew’s voice was inviting, giving Neil the chance to talk about whatever is irritating him if he wants to discuss it.

“What sorts of gifts do a bunch of misfits want?” He finally asks after a long silence.

“They don’t need any gifts.” Andrew says, clearly bored with this conversation.

Neil scoffs. “I know they don’t _need_ any gifts, I _want_ to give them something.” He explains. “I’ve never given gifts before. You all have done so much for me, I want to give something back, even if it’s stupid.” Neil continues. Andrew says nothing, obviously waiting for him to continue.

“Problem is, apparently I suck at gift giving. Everything I can think of either makes no sense or has no thought to it all. Nicky says I should give them something meaningful, but I don’t exactly know what a meaningful present looks like.” He exclaims, rather distraught about the whole process.

Although he was stressed about the presents, he was kind of grateful for the stress. It gave him a bit of a distraction from thinking about this time of year and the unhappy memories that followed with it. Even though he wanted to rip his hair out trying to come up with good ideas, he’d never been happier during the holiday season. He finally understood the meaning of _“Christmas Stress”_ , and it was quite comforting to experience something so normal.

“You’re really going to take advice from Nicky?” The blond beside him speaks.

“He said he was good at gift giving and, despite my initial hesitations, I have no reason not to trust that he’s a good gift giver. He seems like he would be. He’s very emotional.” Neil grunts out. He really did trust that Nicky was an excellent gift giver.

Neil turned to look at the shorter male, who was already looking at him. They sat looking at each other for a little bit, having some sort of silent conversation with each other. Eventually, Andrew turned his attention back to the documentary on the screen. They started talking about jellyfish, how the animal supposedly dated back to 700 million years ago or something; Neil didn’t pay too much attention.

The auburn head was too busy spending the time to study Andrew’s profile. All of the freckles and moles that he was so familiar with already, every small scar that lightly dusted his face, even the stubble that peaked out, too light to notice from far away. Everything was so comforting to Neil. He had studied that face so many times, always surprised at something new he would find.

“Staring.” The blond spoke, not even sparing a glance Neil’s way.

There hands were intertwined with one another. They started holding hands a couple months ago. It was weird and awkward at first; they only had just started becoming more affectionate with each other. It was new territory for both of them, but they were taking it at their own pace. Today was a good day, so it felt comfortable to be in each other’s company and touching the other.

Neil had realized in their exploration of affection and what they are and aren’t okay with yet, that he craved touch from those he loved. He didn’t ever have a loving hand touch him before. Some days Neil still didn’t want to be touched, so he didn’t seek for affection. Some days Andrew didn’t want to be touched, so Neil would seek it elsewhere. He often cuddled with Matt or Dan, let Nicky hug him, and would allow Allison to pet his hair. He loved the soft affection they would give him, careful and fond.

He held the tenderness so dearly to him, and he wanted to give that same warm feeling back to everyone else. He let his thumb rub over the back of Andrew’s, the blond sighing into Neil’s gentle touch ever so slightly.

He suddenly had an idea for a gift.

* * *

It was Christmas Day finally. Neil had his presents all ready to go, though he was still nervous that they wouldn’t like it. Despite Andrew threatening no one to get him anything or he would cut all of their fingers off, Neil still got him one too. He had already given it to the shorter man the night before and he seemed to like it, as he immediately put it on his keychain.

Everyone had already given out their gifts already, save Aaron who was spending his Christmas with Katelyn. That was okay with Neil, seeing as he didn’t want to give Aaron a present to begin with.

Neil had received a new pair of combat boots, courtesy Nicky, concealer from Allison in case he ever wanted to cover up scars or a black eye, new exy socks from Kevin, a beautifully framed photo of all the foxes together from Renee, and fake adoption papers from Dan and Matt, although he doubted if they were actually real or not.

It was finally his turn to give his presents, so he reached for the small pouch in his hoodie’s pocket. He set it on the table in front of him where they all had congregated in the tiny living space of the girl’s dorm.

He fiddled with his hands a bit, slightly picking at the scars on the back of them. Andrew swatted his hands from next to him to stop. He took a deep breath, the others waiting for his explanation.

“I never thought I would find a family worth living for.” Neil started. “I never thought I would ever make it this far, let alone spend a good Christmas with people that care. You have shown me countless times that all of you care about me a lot. I didn’t know how I could give back all the warmth you all have shown me, so I hope this expresses properly how I feel.” He looked up at the others to see their faces.

Nicky looked like he was already about to cry, Kevin looked a bit confused, but curious as well, and the others wore fond smiles on their faces. He grabbed the small pouch, opening it and letting six pairs of identical keys fall out. Everyone, save for Andrew, looked at him confused now.

“They’re keys.” He said pointedly. He got a ‘ _well, duh’_ look from Allison. He grabbed at the chain around his neck, revealing a small lock sat securely on the chain.

“These keys can open this lock that I’m wearing. You all have given me so much; let me into your lives when I gave you nothing in return. Now, I want to give you something back. A gift that means something to the both of us. You can put it wherever you like if you decide to keep it. You all are my family, my friends, and I’m so grateful to share these moments with you all.” He ends.

His speech was sappy and he had probably practiced it over and over a thousand times before today, but he meant every word he said. Neil had never known love until he meant the foxes, so he wanted to convey just how much they meant to him through this.

He looked up to see Nicky, Dan, and Matt crying. Allison and Renee were still smiling fondly at him and Kevin looked perplexed, if not also pleased like a dog that just got a treat. Neil felt a twinge of embarrassment under the attention, not used to such loving gaze all at once. He grinned nonetheless.

“Okay, we’re having a group hug right now.” Nicky exclaimed through sniffles. Normally Neil would refuse, but he was feeling good right now. Andrew huffed a breath out and stood, heading for the door. The others, except for Kevin, got up and crowded around Neil, enveloping him in their warm embrace. Kevin gave him a small nod of acknowledgment though, placing his key next to his others on his keychain. The others all grabbed theirs, the girls and Nicky wearing them as necklaces and Matt having his adorned on his keychain as well.

Neil glanced at Nicky. “Did I do a good job?” He spoke. Nicky smiled so bright at the shorter male, reaching to grab his hand. Neil allowed him to.

“Neil, this is the greatest gift of all.” He exclaimed joyously.

Maybe Christmas could become a good time of year for Neil Josten.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading. I have a bigger story that I'm planning out for AFTG, but I want to continue doing little oneshots in the meantime. I hope you enjoyed this short story as much as I loved writing it. Feedback and comments are alway appreciated and welcome. <3


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